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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  December 20, 2012 6:00am-8:00am PST

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they slow roll these things and time is the enemy of people who are trying to do something. >> it can be our fault, too, there is a danger of a.d.d. in the political culture right now and in the media culture, and everyone is incredibly focused on this. i think it is an opportunity for the tectonic plates to shift but it's important not to stop talking about it in january and february and march. >> there are things you can do besides legislation immediately, enforce existing laws already. blumenthal said we can do it. there's a lot that could be done. >> what i like about all that, right, is that we are actually not powerless, because i think people feel powerless in the wake of this, we have a lot of power. we have to leverage it. >> and responsibility. >> i would agree. appreciate your time this morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning, "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. hi, soledad.
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blizzard warnings in the north and tornado threats in the south. will the response to newtown be different if the shooter was not white? one movie uniting both sides of the political aisle but why senators are speaking out against "zero dark 30." take a page from the '80s rem song -- ♪ it could be the end of the world as we know it ♪ and some people are getting ready for the worst. >> i'm not planning on the world going away. that sucks. however, i'm a realist. i'm not going to put my head in the sand. >> oh, geez, not everyone is buying into that mayan prophecy. most everyone is not. some people are profiting from it, though. "newsroom" starts now.
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good morning to you. thank you for being with us. i'm coral costello. in f your holiday plans include traveling through the part of the country, buckle up. blizzard warnings from iowa to wisconsin, the massive storm dumped more than a foot of snow in the rockies and for the eastern half of the country be warned. it is heading your way. winter starts tomorrow but in the heartland it's already arrived with a vengeance. blizzard conditions already pounding parts of the plains and midwest. the first major snowstorm of the season dumped several inches in colorado where drivers are maneuvering dicey conditions. 156-mile stretch of interstate 70 east of denver was closed for a time on wednesday. >> i think the first thing you should think about is changing your plans for thursday. >> cnn meteorologists say wisconsin could bear the brunt of the bad weather. blizzard warnings are out for a large section of the midwest. this was downtown des moines,
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iowa as the snow was just starting. it could get dumped on with a foot of snow and wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour in some parts. wisconsin's governor already declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm. >> we did this well in february 2011, learning from mistakes made in the past, where they didn't have enough people positioned so from storm crews out there, county truck roads, d.o.t. staff out, wards around snowmobiles and others we'll be fully prepared. >> a lot of us will share in the misery. the storm reaching into the southern united states, we're getting a first look at damage, trees mangled, trucks overturned, a number of buildings damaged in mobile, alabama. tornado warnings still in place in southwest alabama and the severe threat stretches into georgia. meteorologist alexandra steele is here. i wish you weren't because that would mean there's better weather. >> happy holidays. >> exactly. >> tens of millions of people being impacted by this variety of weather.
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blizzard warnings, carol talked about des moines, 12 inches of snow already on the ground there and continuing to snow where the blizzard warnings are there. more eminent concern is happening in the deep south this morning, we're looking athe the pictures from mobile. mobile had tornado warnings up at 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. this morning and this purple color is the delineation of a tornado warning meaning these strong storms do and have showed rotation within them. unfortunately, it's right along this i-65 corridor. mobile has seen some damage and now these storms just training over one another. right now the tornado warnings which means tornadoes have been reported or on doppler radar have rotation are in alabama and also now into the florida panhandle so the big red box show you where tornado watches are and they're for much of the south until noon today meaning conditions are ripe for tornadoes. the northern tier this is just a classic storm, incredibly robust, this of course is the
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snowy side where the blizzard warnings are and of course that's the rain. here's where we're expecting the blizzard warnings to continue today with a foot of snow from green bay to waterloo and down toward des moines. chicago seeing rain now and at about 7:00 tonight it will turn over to snow and then this storm picks up in intensity, believe it or not, around chicago, the snow about two to four inches but it's the 50-mile-per-hour winds that will be the biggest threat. this is tonight, the snow moves out of chicago. tomorrow morning, carol, believe it or not, it's a rain maker for new york, philadelphia and washington, but then that moves out by tomorrow afternoon. >> just so i make it home to see mom. >> you'll get there. >> i hope so. thanks, alexandra. two state department officials employees of hillary clinton are testifying right now before the house and senate committees after that blistering report on exactly what went wrong in benghazi, the committee headed by thomas pickering and admiral mike mullen. admiral mullen had this to say.
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>> while we did not find that any individual u.s. government employee engaged in willful misconduct or knowingly ignored his or her responsibilities, we did conclude that certain state department bureau level senior officials in critical positions of authority and responsibility in washington demonstrated a lack of leadership and management ability appropriate for senior ranks in their responses to security concerns posed by the special mission. >> a total of four senior state department officials have either resigned or placed on administrative leave in the wake of this report but what about secretary of state hillary clinton. she's in charge and she initially took the fall. >> i take responsibility. i'm in charge of the state department. 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts. the president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific
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decisions that are made by security professionals. they're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs, and make a considered decision. >> joining me now, former u.s. ambassador, christopher hill. good morning mr. ambassador. >> good morning. >> the report essentially cleared secretary of state clinton of blame but some conservatives still have questions. you were in the trenches. if your people requested more security would the secretary of state have known? >> well first of all i think what ambassador pickering did was to say that they're looking at the bureau level, that is the assistant secretary level and there's a reason that he does this, when an ambassador has issues, security, tactical questions who are the bad guys out there, the ambassador talks to the assistant secretary so that's why ambassador pickering did that and of course the question is whether the congress
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will accept the notion that this should be looked at, at the so-called bureau level. >> hillary clinton was due to testify before this panel but she fell at home, suffered a concussion. former u.s. diplomat told fox news hillary clinton was suffering from diplomatic illness. what do we need to know from clinton, in your mind? >> well frankly speaking, i think admiral mullen and ambassador pickering have done an exhaustive and hard-hitting report so obviously the congress will want to look at that. they'll ask what did people above the assistant secretary know about this, and i have no doubt that secretary clinton would like to testify and will do so when she can, so i'm not sure where john bolton is coming from on this. >> i think she'll testify in january, although there's no specific date. republican congressman darrell issa says he's concerned the
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carefully vetted testimony of the officials is part of an intentional effort to mislead people, susan rice came out said the events in benghazi happened because of the terrible movie on the internet. should hillary clinton answer to those charges? >> obviously when she testifies she'll explain what she knew and when she knew it, but again i think people should really listen carefully to ambassador pickering who said something like seven embassies in the zone and he knows precisely where the levels of the channels of communication are. i think secretary clinton is obviously correct when she says she's ultimately responsible. she's responsible for the sort of people looking at the security issues, for the people who are looking at the policy issues, but i think for people to play a blame game and try to put this at her doorstep flies in the facts of what ambassador pickering and admiral mullen looked at exhaustively. there are some big issues here. there was absolutely no tactical
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knowledge of these militia groups, there are questions about the level of security in benghazi and the appropriateness of having an ambassador there and only a couple of security people close in so there are a lot of issues there but with due respect to the congressman i don't think these are presidential issues or even at the secretary of state. these are issues as ambassador pickering said are appropriately at the bureau level and i think that's what they should be focusing on. >> ambassador hill thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. this morning, more grief and new details in newtown, connecticut. friends of the killer's mother said she spent her final days at the a luxury resort in new hampshire. she returned thursday night and hours later her son killed her, then launched that deadly rampage at the school. one idea being floated by some politicians at the state and federal level is to allow teachers to be armed and trained to confront a school shooter like adam lanza. we talked a lot about this in
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"the newsroom" and it ignited a firestorm on my facebook page and passionate conversation across the country. the passion of this man whose granddaughter is the same age as many of the newtown victims. >> i have a 5-year-old granddaughter and thank god she goes to school at a private kindergarten in text it text where the staff are armed, and i feel a lot better knowing that. she's not going to die under a desk waiting to be executed. >> but critics of the idea are just as adam ant as supporters. the president of the illinois education association joins me now by phone from springfield, illinois. welcome. thank you for being with us this morning. >> good morning, carol. thank you for having me. i guess the weather prevented the live video. >> i don't envy you the weather that's coming. well it's already bad in illinois but we're glad we have you on the phone. we want to hear what you have to say. you were a teacher for 30 years,
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right? >> yes, close to that, actually, i'm in my 40th year in education. >> so can you imagine yourself being armed in school or having a gun in your classroom? >> first, carol, before i answer that let me on behalf of all educators across this nation express our sympathy for the horrible tragedy in newtown. i know that many of our educators, teachers and support staff have relied on the national educational association health information network crisis guide this week in helping our students deal with this tragedy. but no, carol, we do not believe that it is right to arm teachers. teachers are there to help students, to provide curriculum, not to be police officers, but having said that, there is a
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three-pronged approach that could be taken and should be taken. >> before we get into that, let's just talk about the idea of teachers being armed because so many americans have been talking about this issue. if there were guns in the classroom, how exactly would that work, do you suppose? >> i think it raises many logistical issues, and we don't need more guns to deal with violence. what we need are programs that are -- >> what kind of issues does it raise? >> it raises the whole issue about we need to focus on mental health issues and services. many of our schools do not have the resources to provide counselors and nurses, social workers, psychologists. we can look at students and help identify needs that they have, and provide those so that we can give the right kinds of resources through the right kinds of personnel to help
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prevent a student going down this dark path to violence. so that's the first step. secondly, we need to increase and renew the focus on bullying prevention, not just for that student who is being bullied but for everyone who is around anyone else in helping to stop bullying. and then of course meaningful action about gun violence, rules and we just do not believe that assault rifles should be around, and that we should have definite background checks, a waiting period, and even amnesty days, so americans could turn in assault rifles, no questions asked. >> i'm just reading a statement here from the national education association, in fact, two education groups will come out later today and condemn this tragedy. i'm going to read part of it. "guns have no place in our schools, period. we must be doing everything we
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can to reduce the possibility of gunfire in schools and concentrate on ways to keep all guns off school property and ensure the safety of our children and school employees." i want to read another part, this is more interesting. it also says that "if more guns were in the schools, if teachers were armed it would turn our educators into objects of fear and actually increase the danger in our schools." i was most interested in turning our educators into objects of fear. so if teachers were armed, and let's say you kept a gun in a lock box in your classroom, only to be used in cases of emergency, how would that still turn teachers into objects of fears in children's eyes? >> children look to teachers as mentors, as helpers, not as police officers. so i don't know if students would automatically think something negative about their teacher, but again, it comes
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back to focusing on ways to ensure that our schools are always safe and that is with the right program, the right safety measures, looking at issues that can be addressed through the right kinds of personnel. tapping into the resources in our community to deal with mental health and what we want to do is help identify the needs that students have, provide the right resources, so that we can prevent tragedies like this. our schools are still safe. our teachers, support staff, administrators, are doing everything they possibly can to put those provisions in place, and bringing guns en masse into a school is just not the right answer. >> cinda clickna thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, carol. 100 million americans may get to file taxes late this year
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but it's hardly the break you might be hoping for. why a fiscal cliff could mean chaos for the 1099s. er erin swen bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. you can stay in and like something... or you can get out there and actually like something. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up.
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not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.
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18 minutes past the hour. the president of syria may not have the support of his counterpart in russia. today in his annual press conference the russian president vladimir putin says he is not concerned about assad's regime, but putin doesn't want to keep assad's government in power at all costs. he also hopes to find a solution that will not lead to the collapse of the region. and we're keeping an eye on nasty storms that are moving across most of the country, in alabama, more than 7,000 are without power in the mobile
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area. one woman was trapped in her house when a tree fell on it. right now, there are no reports of serious injuries. that same storm dumping snow on the great plains and the midwest. the state of wisconsin already under a state of emergency. some areas expected to see as much as 12 inches. the storm stretches from houston all the way to minneapolis and it's disrupting holiday travel with a 1506-mile stretch of highway between denver and the kansas state line closed for part of the day yesterday. if you get a gift card this holiday season do not forget about it. you could be hit with maintenance fees even though federal law prohibits cards from expiring for five years and depending on the type of card, you could end up paying $15 or more in purchase and shipping fees. according to a survey by bank rate, bank issued cards are the most likely to charge those fees. this just in to cnn the new york stock exchange being sold? alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange so is it being
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sold and what does this mean? >> well the deal has been made, that still needs regulatory approval but if the deal does go through it would mean the building i'm sitting in, the new york stock exchange euronex will wind up operating essentially under new ownership. intercontinental exchange is looking to buy nyse, the parent of the new york stock exchange, an $8.2 billion cash and stock deal. it's known as i.c.e., it operates as this electronic exchange and trades futures and over-the-counter energy and commodity contracts. i.c.e. has other exchanges looking to buy the nyse is trades in other things different from what's traded here. they trade crude oil, natural gas, and they've even expanded their activities into softer commodities like cotton and sugar and coffee, so you're seeing sort of something new being thrown into the mix. as we speak shares of the nyse
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are surging 35% in the premarket. remember the nyse euronex is a public company and you're seeing these shares surge, carol, because the deal values it at $33.12 a share, that is a premium of 38% over wednesday's closing price, the actual trading of stocks. it's been overshadowed by derivatives and options. that is i.c.e.'s territory. when you see the marriage territory it's well thought out. it's an iconic brand, a way to leverage all of that with something new. i must add we did speak with one trader this morning, carol, who said it's kind of sad because the greatest institution in the world is going to, has to be taken over to kind of survive in this new day of electronic trading, but at the same time if you're an investor, at nyse
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euronext in the company itself you're making good money at this moment. >> alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. when people paid tribute to the victims in newtown they usually don't answer the gunman's mother. how should nancy lanza be remembered?
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the question for you this morning, how should nancy lanza be remembered? the memorials, the makeshift vigils are always the same, 26 victims. >> we gather here in memory of 20 beautiful children and six
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remarkable adults. >> 26 christmas trees, 26 candles for the 26 innocents who died needlessly, but never in the same breath do we mention adam lanza's first victim, his mother, nancy lanza. she was shot four times in the head while sleeping. by most accounts she was a caring woman. >> she's a great friend, very since sincere, very, very giving person, give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it. >> i've seen a lot of things in the media about her being this survivalist whacko and that was not her at all. she taught the boys how to use the guns responsibly. safety was paramount always. >> we don't know how nancy lanza dealt with her troubled son. what if she was frightened by what he might do? he was an adult, she had no legal power over him. there are people who sympathize like liza long who wrote a blog "i am adam lanza's mother."
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it details her struggles with her own 13-year-old son. >> sometimes for no apparent reason he will turn into this absolute raging, i don't know how to describe it. you'd have to see it to believe it. i stopped and said to myself you know this isn't normal. this isn't the way that my younger children should have to live, and i have to face up to the fact that i have a sick son and we need help. >> some in newtown consider nancy lanza a victim. should she be included in the memorials in that town? after all she may have been a wonderful person but she did enable her troubled son to get a hold of a semiautomatic assault rifle and we all know what happened next. how should nancy lanza be remembered? facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later this hour.
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the people didn't know of
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the devastation that occurred on staten island firsthand because you needed to be here to see it with your eyes. we needed to be down, seeing people's lives destroyed. if i just sit back and make like this didn't happen, i'd be lying and fooling myself. i will be there for my community, and there's thousands and thousands, millions of people just like me that are out there looking to help and rebuild.
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this morning, more grief and new details in newtown, connecticut. friends of the killer's mother says she spent her final days at a luxury resort in new hampshire. she returned thursday night and hours later her son killed her and then launched that deadly rampage at the school. think about this, with the response over this tragic shooting, would the response be different if the gunman was not a white man? should white men be profiled? in many mass shootings the guns have been white. this weekend on msnbc david sirota said "if this was any other kind of demographic you would be hearing that in a much different way, a muching you leeer way." no surprise this topic started quite a debate, sometimes a very nasty debate.
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david sirota joins us from denver. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> we appreciate it. explain what you say we'd be hearing about this in an uglier way. >> we're talking about gun control and a culture that glorifies violence, we're having a fairly nuanced conversation after this mass shooting and i think we'd have a narrower conversation after this mass shooting and all of these mass shootings if most of the shooters had been let's say arabs or if most of the shooters had been black men, the conversation would be a much different conversation, potentially a conversation about racial profiling, profiling single demographic groups of people. we're not having that conversation, and i'm not saying i want to have that conversation but the point is we're not having those narrower discussions because the one group in question here, the group, the demographic group that has been the perpetrators
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of 70% of these mass shootings has been white men which is the one group in america that's effectively not allowed to be profiled in that kind of way. i'm not arguing for that profiling. >> what would the conversation be if it were a muslim? >> i think you'd have all sorts of questions about whether we should intensify the already existing racial and ethnic profiling programs that have been deployed against the muslim american community or arab american community. i want to be clear i'm not saying i think white men should be racially or ethnically profiled any more than i think muslims and arabs should be racially and ethnically profiled. those practices don't work and they're also bigoted in their construction, but it's important to remember what the differences are in an aftermath of tragedies like this based on people's ethnicity and race. >> i'd like to say your comment was in response to a congressman who implied the secret service
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should conduct profiling to find the mass killers before they strike. you said it, that would be awfully difficult to do. take adam lanza, as far as we know he's never been violent. he was quiet, withdrawn and different but as far as we know he wasn't violent in any way so how do you profile that type of person to prevent mass shootings? >> i think it's a very good question and i think that that's going to be the conversation about mental health services in the coming weeks and months. my hope is that after this, when we realize how we responded to this in the conversation, a nuanced conversation, that the next time there's something bad happens, that we hesitate to ascribe to entire groups the actions of single individuals. we basically when it comes to people of color, we tend to ascribe to the entire group of those people the actions of their individuals when we don't dot same for white guys. i hope the next time something
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bad happens we step back and say we're not going to make into a group analysis the actions of single individuals because that's bigoted and it's offensive. >> david sirota contributor for salon.com thank you for being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me. peace, love and harmony for the holidays, right? that's not the case when it comes to washington. we'll tell you why the fiscal cliff talks aren't so jolly. [ male announcer ] with a select terrain dial that adjusts the jeep grand cherokee's performance for specific weather and road conditions... ♪ ...even heavy snowstorms... won't keep you from getting to work. our apologies. ♪ military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different.
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oh the poll days aholidays time for people to put aside their differences and get together. it was five days ago, just five days that speaker of the house john boehner issued this statement, "i join the president and all americans in sending prayers and condolences to the victims and loved ones of newtown, connecticut." he said that would bring them together, maybe end some of the bitter partisanship. now they're back to this. >> they're thinking about voting for raising taxes at least on folks over $1 million which they say they don't want to do, but they're going to reject spending cuts that they say they do want to do. that defies logic.
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>> then the president will have a decision to make. he can call on senate testimonies to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. >> now that was john boehner's response, it lasted 57 seconds. he was talking about a bill that would be plan b, the republicans at least john boehner as a republican wants to pass a bill raising taxes only on people making $1 million or more and protecting the rest of us. so joining me is cnn contributor will cain. roland martin was supposed to join us but having a problem at the dentist. >> he got a toothache, yeah. >> poor roland. you know, will, they got to get the fiscal cliff stuff done before the world ends tomorrow. >> that's going to be a tight time frame, i forgot about that. i thought you were going to say the end of the year. i forthe go about the world ending thing. that will be tight. >> exactly. so who is at fault here? what is the sticking point here?
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it's just back to the same old thing, each side blaming the other. >> yes, but i guess i don't feel quite as pessimistic as every headline does. they've hit a stall, right, we saw last week some progress when republicans suggested they're willing to raise taxes on true millionaires, actually what that word means, right, those that make over $1 million and the president responded with, okay, i'll go up from 250 to 400 and throw in some calculation adjustments on social security. that's moving together, right, and so this week we slow down and boehner says he's going to push through on his proposal to raise taxes on people with making $1 million, but i don't think that means that we're in dire straits here, carol. >> really? because you're the only one, because when you talk to congressional reporters they say this is a bad sign, the two sides are farther apart than ever, still posturing. >> how can they be farther apart than ever when they've given up
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on for months looked like the hardest line to hold, republicans will not raise tax rates in any way and obama repeatedly said as he promised in his campaign that he will raise taxes on people making above $250,000. they've given up their hard line, right? this can't be the lowest point. i think they're still moving towards something in the middle and it's basically poker until that moment. it's boehner suggesting i really mean it and i'm going to push this bill through that can't possibly make its way through the senate and you won't sign president obama to show you how serious i am. >> what if boehner's bill can't make it through the house. >> i think he'll get that through the house. i've heard other republicans suggest he has those votes. >> why do that, because he's trying to pass this bill to put pressure on the president to bend more his way. >> right. >> why do that when you're in these sensitive negotiations? >> because it's poker. because it is a game of saying look i'm serious about my side of the proposal. i'm so serious i'm going to
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pursue it over here. they're both trying to move each other off the markers they currently sit out 400 and a million which they aren't devoted to as they were a month ago of 250 and no taxes. it's posturing that i think will move toward something they can agree on. i could be wrong. >> you're laying a bet a day before the world ends. >> no, no, i get to january 1 and i'll tell you they do a deal before then. >> i hope you're right, will cain. thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. a new film based on the mission to catch bin laden has some in washington crying foul. we'll tell you why several senators are calling the film grossly inaccurate. year-end eve so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. get the best offer of the year -- 0% apr financing for 60 months
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plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance. hurry. bonus cash ends january 2nd. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.
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45 minutes past the hour. two state department officials employees of hillary clinton testifying on capitol hill this morning. lawmakers are questioning them following the release of a scathing review of failures at the u.s. consulate in benghazi. the report led to one resignation and three disciplinary administrative leaves at the state department. new pictures from mobile, alabama, the storm is moving across the country. cars flipped over at a car dealership, trees knocked down. more than 7,000 are without power in the mobile area. the storm reaches from houston
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to minneapolis. some states will see up to a foot of snow. it is the best selling car in america but sure isn't the safest. the camry rated poor in a new crash test from the insurance institute for highway safety. it measured impacts on the front bumper. another sedan also poor, the prius-v wagon. only the honda accord and the suzuki kasashi got the top award. one new movie release is uniting both sides of the political aisle in the fight for a single cause. nope it's not "lincoln." it's "zero dark thirty." democrat and republican senators are speaking out against the film based on real events premise. mischelle turner, to be blunt, it boils down to the torture scenes in the movie. >> it definitely does, carol. let me tell you what the uproar is about, three senators taking
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on the film particularly the scenes where cia operatives are torturing detainees, dianne feinstein and carl levin and republican senator john mccain whose experiences as a p.o.w. in vietnam made him an outspoken critic of any torture. they're upset with the filmmakers. in a letter to the studio behind the film they say "zero dark thirdy" is "perpetuating the myth that torture is effective." a classified report says the coercive interrogations didn't lead to any information that resulted to owesamosama's captu. "it is factual inaccurate and we believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt for osama bin laden is not based on the facts but rather part of the filthment's fictional narrative."
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this was a ten-year intelligence operation brought to the screen in a two and a half hour film. we depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin lad laden. no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film drama advertises." in that mouthful, basically what they're saying is this is not a documentary. we never said it was a documentary. it's a movie, and there will be some room for debate, there may have been some creative license in the film making. that's what hollywood is saying in response. >> i'm not sure what the senators want the moviemakers to do, put a disclaimer at the end of the movie? what can they do at this point? >> well, because exactly, that's a good question, because this is not a documentary, it's a movie, you know, the filmmakers are saying what do you want us to do but can i give you a little bit
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of an idea of the movie because a lot of people have not seen the film yet. >> sure. >> basically the torture scenes show cia interrogators waterboarding, humiliating and abusing detainees and these scenes are the focus of the beginning of the movie, talking about abu grab, dog collars, nudity. in the movie these interrogations result in crucial information in the search for osama bin laden. now, i wouldn't particularly say the film glorifies torturers but the operatives including the film's hero who is played by jessica chastain, they're not squeamish at all about what they're doing and there is a later point in the film where cia officials complain about in the film where cia officials complain about president obama's decision to stop the detainee program. that's just a little, you know, background information. >> no, that's really fascinating because you're lucky enough to see the movie. it's not out yet where i live. but i'm going to go see it.
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it's interesting. >> there will be a lot of people just like you. all right, carol. all that doomsday hype over the mayan calendar isn't just scaring people, it's also making people a whole lot of money. wait until you hear how mexico was cashing in on the apocalypse. .
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and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here. talk back question this morning, a tough one. how should nancy lanza be remembered. as one of the 27, not 26 victims of the tragedy. this from scott, she should've sought professional help for her son long ago. if she could afford guns and a big house, why couldn't she afford the best doctors money could buy. this from jennifer, she should
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be remembered as a bad parent. she kept guns around, out of the safe and with easy access. well, we don't know that yet. she should be remembered as partially responsible for the massacre. and this from michelle, regardless of what anyone says about her, she was a victim. she may not have died in the school, but she is still on the list of victims that died. keep the conversation going. cnn.com/carolcnn. more responses in the next hour of "newsroom." [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world.
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are you ready? tomorrow is allegedly the end of the mayan calendar. and some say, some really believe this that it will be the end of the world. so here's your weather forecast making the rounds on facebook. a high of 1250 degrees and hell fire tomorrow. on saturday, nothing. not everyone is taking tomorrow lightly, that's because the hype is helping rake in a ton of dough. nick parker joins us from one of the most iconic sites in the mayan culture. good morning on your last day on earth. >> reporter: good morning to you, carol. yes, certainly a lot of speculation around what the mayan calendar really meant with a wide variety of interpretations being presented, some people think it's the end of an era, some people think it could well be doom sdadoomsday. it's certainly making a lot of money for the mexican government.
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>> reporter: surging crowds of tourists, calendar memorabilia, and countdown clocks in airports around the country. all part of an international marketing campaign geared around one date. this is one of the most iconic sites in mayan culture. it was built more than 1,000 years ago, but today has helped attract more than 50 million tourists to southeast mexico in the last year alone. >> you're here near to a date that's kind of a huge deal for a lot of people. i think it's very interesting. >> before we came, we thought according to the mayans that it is the end of the world. >> reporter: films like 2012 have helped spread the idea of an apocalypse. mexico launched a teaser campaign to capitalize on global speculation. it was the brain child of gloria gravata who just left office. >> some people believe it is the
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end of the world, we believe and the mayans believe it is the beginning of a new era. you have to come to mexico to discover what is it. >> gonzalez also saw the calendar as an opportunity. he opened a boutique hotel in the closest city. >> judging by a number of hotels being built in town and operators being created, we can tell there's a lot of expectation, a few hotels are giving discounts because it's the end of the world. >> some mayans have complained about the exploitation of their culture. but she says they are in the minority. >> what i have seen is they're very happy. they see the benefit because the nice thing about the tourism is that it shares the benefit with everyone. >> others disagree. alphonso runs tours to mayan communities and says the tourist dollars are going elsewhere. >> most of the money is spent in transportation, and they don't own taxes, hotels, restaurants,
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and here they don't have those services yet. >> yet may be the word. hotels across the five mayan states are nearly sold out. the hope is that interest in the culture is long-term. assuming everybody survives december 21st. >> nick, you still there? i was just -- i was just waiting -- >> reporter: basically we're looki ining at a situation tomo where the officials are expecting about 8,000 people to pour in for the all-important day of the 21st. they're also expecting about five or six different ceremonies taking place around here. but as i said in the piece just then, i think the main issue is the longevity of this enthusiasm for mayan culture and we'll have to see in 2013 how much that is. >> you scared me at first. i thought you were frozen with fear of the apocalypse. nick parker, thank you so much. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" begins right now.
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happening now in the newsroom, blizzard warnings in the north, tornado threats in the south, and the worst of this massive storm is yet to come. plus this. oh, you're watching bulletproof backpacks in action. you heard that right. one company says sales are up 500% and now they're releasing more bullet proof products to keep your kids safe. and now chance these seat mates will ever talk your ear off. these are potatoes. boeing doing a bit of tuber testing on the onboard wi-fi. not kidding. "newsroom" starts now. good morning, thank you so much for being with us. i'm carol costello. if your holiday plans include traveling through the heart of the country, buckle up, it's going to get rough. blizzard warnings blanketing much of the central united states from colorado to
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wisconsin. the massive storm has already dumped more than a foot of snow in the rockies, and for the eastern half of the country, be warned, it is heading your way. in des moines, iowa, winds hit speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, airport there already reporting nearly a foot of snow in omaha, nebraska, blizzard-like conditions overnight made driving there nearly impossible. i-80 was closed yesterday in central nebraska. that's a 150-mile stretch. storms also reaching into the southern united states. we're getting a first look at damage there. trees mangled, trucks overturned, and a number of buildings damaged in mobile, alabama. the tornado warning has expired there now, but the threat now stretches from louisiana to north carolina. so let's get the latest on the damage. joining me by phone is the director of the mobile county emergency management agency. he, i apologize, sir, because i know a ronnie and she's a she. welcome this morning, i know you're busy. >> no problem, thank you very much.
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>> tell us -- well, tell us what it's like there in mobile. >> well, it's clearing up right now. we've still got some, you know, rain patches coming through and so forth. but it should clear up by noon or a little after. the weather service has just deployed a team to go out and look at the damage to see if, in fact, it was a tornado or straight line winds or just severe weather. the front came through around 4:30, between 4:30 and 5:00 this morning. and major damage along the corridor on i-65 between the city of mobile and pritchard, up that area. >> we're just looking at pictures of the damage. the winds were so strong that cars overturned at car dealerships? >> right. the mercedes benz dealership here right by the interstate.
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i haven't seen any cars overturned, but i noticed a lot of the light poles and stuff have fallen on several of the vehicles. luckily, a lot of the companies, the industry in the area hadn't gone to work yet, so you know, some of the panel trucks and those kind of things were turned over with the high-profile and winds pushing on them, and a lot of roof damage, some of the houses had roof damage. first responders had to go in and help some people out, you know, that took refuge in their bathrooms and that kind of stuff. but as of this point, we've had no reported fatalities or major injuries. >> and that's the best news of all. ronnie, thank you so much, we'll let you get back to work. we appreciate you being with us this morning. now to chicago. here's a live look outside of chicago right now. as you can see, no snow yet, but high winds are already impacting flights at o'hare airport. in fact, that's where ted rowlands is now joining us by
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phone. so, ted, have flights been canceled? >> reporter: yeah. several flights have been canceled, a lot of delays here, as well, carol, it's not so much the weather here in chicago. that's coming in a few hours and it's going to make what is already a difficult situation worse, it's the other areas, destinations in iowa, wisconsin, all canceled then there are delays from airplanes trying to come here from denver and other places out west as this monster storm moves across the country. a handful of cancellations, a lot of delays and a lot of people scurrying to try to get on flights now while they can. united has waved their change fees for anybody wanting to alter their travel plans because as this system moves forward, we're expecting it to hit around 4:00 this afternoon. it's going to be nasty with blizzards -- a blizzard, high winds, and also heavy, heavy snow. the calm before the storm here in chicago, but it's already starting to take effect in terms
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of travel delays. >> it's interesting how public officials have been reacting to this coming storm. in wisconsin, there's already a state of emergency there and the weather's not that bad yet. >> yeah, well, wisconsin's been getting hit, we've been getting snow all night and the high winds. they're already feeling the effect up there, places like green bay, just north of madison. they are getting heavy, heavy snow, and it's the winds, and it's the whiteout conditions, traveling, especially on the roads is very dicey right now in wisconsin. and again, we're expecting that to transfer down to the chicago area in the next few hours. iowa had a horrible night. it was a tough storm. and it's going to put a damper on a lot of holiday travel. >> you got that right, sadly. >> thanks so much. let's head to our meteorologist alexandra steele. >> at least six states were in blizzard warnings. and ted talks about iowa and wisconsin, this is the big
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picture. but you can see, all ensconced in white for the most part. near blizzard conditions, meaning the snow's coming down, winds gusting between 40 and 50 miles per hour. and ted was at the airport in chicago. for chicago, the worst is yet to come. we are going to see a changeover from rain to snow at about 7:00 tonight. and then the winds kick on in. here's the big picture, an energetic powerful robust storm, pretty classic in nature. the northern tier, it's snow, of course, but severe weather, of course we talked to ronnie in mobile, when you look at that damage, looked like an ef-1 tornado ran through. we do have tornado warnings for alabama and the panhandle of florida. these storms moving northeast at 50 miles per hour. so these very strong storms capable of producing a tornado when you look at the video. emergency management heading out there to assess the damage. determine if it was a tornado that moved through. so when is it going to end? that's what you want to know. here's the forecast model this
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morning. chicago still in the rain. tonight at 7:00, chicago changes over from rain to snow. believe it or not, carol, it will be their first snow of the season. the latest on record. 290 days since the last snowfall. tomorrow night you can see, there we go, during the early morning friday, there's the 95 corridor, new york, washington, baltimore, tomorrow morning is your rain, not snow, and then it moves all out for tomorrow afternoon, gets into boston and a done deal by tomorrow evening. >> all right. just amazing that it hits just in time for christmas travel. >> i know it. can you imagine? >> thanks, alexandra. two state department officials, employees of hillary clinton testified this morning before house and senate committees after that blistering report on exactly what went wrong in benghazi. the u.s. deputy secretary of state for management and resources said this earlier this morning. >> we accept every one of them. all 29 recommendations. secretary clinton has charged my
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office with leading a task force that will ensure that all 29 are implemented quickly and completely. and to pursue steps above and beyond the board's report. task forces already met to translate the recommendation into actual 60 specific action items. we've assigned every single one to the responsible bureau for immediate implementation. and several will be completed by the end of this calendar year. >> total of four senior state department officials have either resigned or placed on administrative leave in the wake of the investigation that looked into what led to the deaths of four americans, including the u.s. ambassador, christopher stevens. also on capitol hill today, the fiscal cliff negotiations are, oh, hmm, well, at best rumbling along. the house is set to vote on plan "b," john boehner is proposing as a safety net if the fiscal
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cliff negotiations don't work out. boehner's plan "b," though, has little support among republicans and less support among democrats and if it does manage to pass the house, president obama has said he would veto it if it came to his desk. joining me now, dana bash. and just to explain to our viewers what plan "b" is, john boehner's plan would what? raise the taxes on millionaires but protect tax cuts for everyone else. >> exactly. in the way the speaker and republican leaders have written it and framed it is to keep tax cuts in place for everybody making up to $1 million, which the speaker says over and over in public and private conversations that means that 99% of americans would have their tax cuts in place. you're right that the big scramble right now is for the speaker to get his own republicans onboard to get those magic 218 votes to pass even plan "b." i was just e-mailing with a republican leadership source who said it's looking better for him
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to get that. and in part, it's because they've added another vote today, carol, which is on spending cuts, which from the perspective of many republicans, that really is the key, of course, to shrink government by cutting spending. >> okay. so everybody says, oh, these fiscal cliff negotiations, they're dead as a door nail and many people think it was because of those dueling press conference held by speaker boehner and the president. >> reporter: those talks were already stalled by the time the president and the speaker spoke one after the other. we should listen to some of what they said to remind our viewers just how the blame game is going. >> you know, at some point, there's got to be, i think, a recognition on the part of my republican friends that take the deal. >> the president will have a decision to make. he can call on the senate
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democrats to pass that bill, or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. >> now, carol, i am told there were no discussions, not even an e-mail yesterday all day long between anybody on the president's staff and anybody on the speaker staff. and very little done the day before even the day before that. these talks really are at an impasse. there's hope, a little bit of hope that after the republicans sort of get this tax rate vote out of their system, that's actually a term that a republican lawmaker used with me that maybe that will open up the discussions once again on a broader level. but there is increasing pessimism about those bigger talks and more kind of feeling that they're just not going to go anywhere now. >> merry christmas, happy hanukkah and happy holidays, everyone. that's terrible. dana bash, thanks so much. the company that operates wall street's landmark, the new york stock exchange may have a
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brand new owner, the intercontinental exchange will buy the new york stock exchange for $8.2 billion in cash and stock. the deal announced earlier this morning. shares of new york stock exchange nyse euronext are surging in today's trade. forget snakes on a plane, we're talking potatoes on a plane. yes, these are potatoes, rows and rows of potatoes and they're sitting on a boeing jet. why, you ask? well, let's answer the question how many potatoes. 20,000 pounds to be precise. the airline, this is the why, the airline is using them to test the onboard wi-fi. a what? alison kosik, you're here to explain it all the science. >> how humbling is this that we're just like potatoes, that i could put a sack of potatoes here and be at home watching the potatoes do their thing, right? >> people might like that. >> that's a good one. i'm sure they'll appreciate that.
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the reason you're seeing these potatoes sitting in these airline seats is because these potatoes actually mimic the way the human body responds to electronic signals. in fact, boeing is going so far to call it an advance method and a breakthrough in testing wireless signals on a plane. so what you see what it was doing, using 20,000 pounds of potatoes as sit-ins, as stand-ins as humans. and the point they were trying to make here is to make sure that the signal, the wireless signal is consistent and reliable. because what happens, when people are in a plane and move around, the wireless signal can change and it can weaken. if they didn't have the potatoes in the seats, boeing would have to get dozens of people to sit there and you know how that is, sitting on a grounded plane for hours, nobody likes that, even if they're being paid to do that. so, yes, instead of having people sitting there for hours, they brought in the spuds. in fact, they called this testing method spuds because it does actually stand for something, synthetic personnel
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using dielectric substitution. the potatoes, carol, they were donated to a food bank. >> oh, that warms my heart. >> i'm glad it does. >> thank you, alison, for explaining that because i was wondering. using backpacks to protect your children. yes, a demonstration of how state of the art material could help save lives and look at other bullet proof products that could soon be in a school in your neighborhood. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function
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for a body in motion. welcome to chevy's year-end event. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. get the best offer of the year -- 0% apr financing for 60 months plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance. hurry. bonus cash ends january 2nd. you're looking at live pictures now obviously of joe biden. he's speaking in honor of senator daniel enuye. the second longest serving member of the senate. he died monday at the age of 88. he served hawaii as a senator
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for half a century. and as a congressman for three years before that. earlier this morning, republican house speaker john boehner made some remarks in honor of him. by the way, only 31 people have lain in the capitol rotunda, the last was gerald r. ford nearly six years ago. and the last senator so honored was hubert humphrey of minnesota. inouye was a war hero and served his country for a long time. and you see his casket being placed on the stand there in the u.s. capitol. this morning, more grief and new details in newtown, connecticut, friends of the killer's mother says she spent her final days at a luxury resort in new hampshire. just hours later her son killed her and launched the deadly rampage at the school there.
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in the wake of the tragedy in newtown, parents are thinking differently about how to protect their children. it may seem like an extreme measure, but some parents are even trying to bulletproof their children. here's cnn's miguel marquez in salt lake city. >> reporter: it is a disturbing sign of the times. >> you guys make inserts for children's backpacks? >> that's correct. >> bullet-resistant inserts. >> that's correct. >> this is one of them? >> that's correct. >> show us how it works. >> this is our military grade product. >> he says in the last week, sales have jumped 500% and they're still climbing. desperate parents seeking ways to protect their kids in the most extreme situations. the material will not stop high-velocity rounds like the ones used in newtown, the three shots with a 9 millimeter at point-blank range. >> all the kinetic energy and penetration was actually abso
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absorbed with our armor. >> three small holes, the armor's a little stiffer, and the rounds are inside here? >> that's correct. >> and amendment two is not alone. in boston, bullet blocker promises your peace of mind is our business. in austin, texas, bulletproof me.com says sales are up 50%. new customers, schools and day care facilities. even the columbian designer has a requester for bulletresistant garments for a toddler. >> people say you're profiting off of terror and horror. >> and that's the last thing that we wanted to do. i mean, this was something that we put out there at the request of parents trying to meet the needs. >> reporter: amendment two says its proprietary material, a protective blanket. >> because of the lightweight nature of the material, they say it could be used as a mat in the school, for instance, and in an emergency, for protection.
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>> at salt lake city's get some ammo owners say protective gear won't stop a killer, only another gun will. >> if you knew every teacher in the school had a gun, i think you would think differently about your little plan. >> since 1995, utah has allowed teachers to carry concealed weapons, the law is yet to be tested, but after newtown, anything seems possible. >> come here. >> miguel marquez, cnn, salt lake city. our talk back question for you this morning, how should nancy lanza be remembered? facebook.com/carol cnn back after a break. i always wait until the last minute.
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and ask about adt pulse. advanced home management here today. adt. always there. now it's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, how should nancy lanza be remembered? the memorials, the makeshift vigils always the same. 26 victims. >> we gather here in memory of 20 beautiful children, and six remarkable adults. >> 26 christmas trees, 26 candles for the 26 innocents who died needlessly never in the same breath do we hear mention
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of adam lanza's first victim, his mother. she was shot four times in the head while sleeping, and by most accounts she was a caring woman. >> oh, she was a great friend. very sincere. very, very giving person. give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it. >> i've seen a lot of things in the media about her being this survivalist wacko, that was not it at all. she taught the boys how to use the guns safely. safety was paramount. >> we don't know how she dealt with her troubled son. but yet, what if as some reports suggest she was frightened by what he might do. he was an adult, she had no legal power over him. there are people who sympathize like liza long who wrote a blog "i am adam lanza's mother," details her struggle with her own 13-year-old son. >> sometimes for no apparent reason, he will just turn into this absolute raging -- i -- i
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don't know how to describe it. you'd have to see it to believe it. i stopped and said to myself, you know, this isn't normal. this isn't the way that my younger children should have to live. and, i have to face up to the fact that i have a sick son. and we need help. >> some in newtown consider nancy lanza a victim. should she be included in the many memorials being held in that town? after all, she may have been a wonderful person, but she did enable her troubled son to get ahold of a semiautomatic assault rifle. and we all know what happened next. talk back today. how should nancy lanza be remembered? facebook.com/carolcnn. your comments later this hour. everyone would likely agree if we could do something to stop the shootings inside our schools, we should. but does that mean we need to arm teachers inside the classroom? ten states now considering that. if you are one of the millions of men
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good morning to you. i'm carol costello, thank you so much for being with me. clearly mistakes were made. that's how senator john kerry widely considered to be the likely successor to hillary clinton as secretary of state opened the first of two hearings about the benghazi attack this morning. secretary of state clinton said the state department is taking all of the recommendations of the report and implementing changes immediately. initial jobless claims are up 17,000 people this week to a level of 361,000. the rate measures those who filed for unemployment for the first time while the rise was slightly larger than expected, the level is consistent with the weeks before superstorm sandy, which forced many to file for temporary unemployment benefits. as you know, there is this massive winter weather system hitting the heart of the country
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right now. looking at live pictures from west bend, wisconsin. you see the wind is very strong, blizzard-like conditions possible there. wisconsin, man, schools have been canceled in wisconsin, also nebraska. some areas could get up to 12 inches of snow. alexandra steele is here to tell us more, and i guess wisconsin is going to be the worst hit in the country. is that fair to say? >> yeah, probably fair to say. wisconsin and iowa. des moines, 12 inches, 30, 40, 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts, but wisconsin most likely, this is really the quadrant of concern. it's moved out of omaha, toward des moines, and really areas of wisconsin, some places, milwaukee, 12, 13, 14 inches of snow. and some of these places like chicago haven't seen snow yet this winter, believe it or not. so it is their first time. and it will be quite a storm. not only in terms of the snow, but in terms of the really powerful winds. so big picture, classic storm, there it is, there's, of course, the cold side with the storm. and then, of course, along it, showers and thunderstorms and
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tornado warnings. so blizzard warnings in wisconsin and iowa, tornado warnings in mississippi and alabama. here's a look at where that thread is. this is the blizzard warning. meaning, of course, 9 to 12 inches of snow, visibilities less than 1/4 mile. we're going to watch the storm move out. but even in omaha where the snow has gone, stopped falling, anyway. the strong winds are blowing it around making perilous travel conditions. here's what we've seen, mobile, most likely an ef-1, damage there, you can see cars flipped over, potent storms, southern side, if it's a severe threat. this pink delineation, tornado warnings meaning that some of these storms have seen rotation. and when you look at them, but the good news is, the back end is already there already in mississippi and it's moving through. so here's a look, as we head toward this morning into tonight, chicago at about seven, changes over from rain to snow, gets the first snow of the season. but it's not the snow that will be the biggest factor, they
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already have delays. the worst for chicago and the upper midwest is yet to come. tonight, really incredibly tough conditions, 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts. it all moves eastward tomorrow, tomorrow morning, right along the eastern sea board. but that will be a rainmaker for tomorrow, new york and washington and philadelphia and all pushes out to sea tomorrow night. >> and good riddance, right? >> good-bye. >> thanks, alexandra. whether it's a zombie invasion or epic earthquake, some people believe and they really do that the world will end in just a few hours. hmm, so what do you do if there is a doomsday disaster? oh, my. we'll be right back. oh,this is jucier than i thought. we actully keep track of how many times this kid picked his nose? tongue's out, hair pulls, stink eyes, man we see eveything. oh, it's the old man. hold on, i gotta send something out. you can have two apps open at the same time? how'd you do that? it's the galaxy note 10.1 man, it just does it.
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hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. just $12.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. . seems like just yesterday we were prepping for y2k, now it's called the end of days. because of this, an unfinished portion of the mayan calendar, some believe it spells the end of the world is tomorrow. and as the national geographic channel found, if you're
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prepping for doomsday, people will watch. nichelle turner is in los angeles watching it for us. it has quite the following. >> it does. it's this really popular show on the national geographic channel. it's brought in some of the best ratings ever, it's about people prepping for disaster. if the world ends tomorrow and someone survives it, they're probably going to be a prepper. let's look at one person who is preparing for a smallpox outbreak. take a look at this. >> the terrorist organization wanted to use a biological weapon, smallpox would be number one on their list. my family has biological suits. >> this is what i'm going to look like. >> my wife and i have worked really hard on our food storage. we have a huge amount of food. >> sometimes i think he goes overboard. >> i have devised a plan with friends in the neighborhood. >> i got you some new radios. >> i thought the guy had a few screws loose, but he's got a plan in place.
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>> it's the background music, though. that's what gets me. some people may paint these folks as sort of, i don't know, maybe out there. you know, carol, one of the recent -- one of the recent episodes featured a prepper planning to flee manhattan if a major storm hit and flooded the city. doesn't seem to crazy after sandy, right? just saying. >> that's different than being afraid of chemical weapons and smallpox. >> that is true. that is true. but i know you're not too worked up over this, but the mayans do say the world is ending tomorrow. and like you said before, some people say the calendar was mistakenly translated and actually the day could be the 23rd. so we could prolong this for a couple more days, carol. >> oh, man, i'm glad, i really want to celebrate christmas. >> the odds of doing that are pretty good. i thought you were going to give me a little theme music coming in, a little, "it's the end of
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the world --." >> okay, thanks. we're going to talk more about this because joining us now from new york is an expert in disaster preparedness and was featured as a consultant on "doomsday preppers." welcome. >> thanks for having me. i appreciate being here. >> we're glad you're here. i don't mean to poke fun at the show, but i do wonder why do you think so many people are watching it? >> i mean because of people's fears. there's so many things that surround people today that kind of speak towards the fragility of our society. we had hurricane sandy here in new york. we had the fukushima daiichi meltdown in japan last year. so, i mean, people read the handwriting on the wall so they're doing what they can to try to prepare for these disasters that seem to be e v-- prepping is kind of like a natural byproduct of, you know, what people think they need to do. i mean, the government preps,
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the government has wartime relocation centers or continuity of government locations. so it's not like it's something that, you know, is crazy or strange. it's something that is based on common sense. some people take it overboard, but that's to each their own. >> the people in these shows, most of them do take it overboard. and isn't that sort of reenforcing the fear that all of us here inside of us? >> no, no, no. i'm going to tell you something, it is better to have and not need than to need and not have. so even if you tend to go a little bit to the extreme, when something happens, when something occurs, then you're going to be covered. it's the people around you that aren't. so at the end of the day, you know, it's better to err on the side of caution, and what preppers are doing is erring on the side of caution. so, of course, doing things that don't, you know, that just a little bit too much. obviously, that can look strange. but at the end of the day, when something actually occurs and
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you have an excess of something and everybody else around you doesn't, then, you know, i can tell you that people aren't going to think you're too strange when that happens. >> well, let me ask you this, like i have no desire to have a bomb shelter in the back of my home stocked with canned goods in the case of an apocalypse disaster. i want to live without fear, frankly. >> right. >> so just as a person who really does live her life without fear, how -- what should i actually prep? >> it's not about living with fear. it's about being insured. you have car insurance, all sorts of insurance. insurance for your home. and what prepping is, it's just insurance against disasters. that's all it is. it's not about fear, it's like you have the fire axe behind glass. and that fire ax behind the glass, when there's a fire, you break the glass. when there's a disaster, you reach for your bugout bag, you run out, have all of the things you need to survive outside of your home if you needed to go. if you have a disaster, the
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lights go out, you have power, you have lights, all these things are insurance. that's all it is. it's not about living in fear. none of us who do this live in fear. in fact, we live without fear because we're prepared for the emergencies. it's other people who react to people who prep that feel fearful because they really -- their anxieties come from the fact they are unprepared. and americans, i think americans need to practice this because it makes us a stronger as a people, helps our communities, and it also helps the nation. when disaster strikes and you're prepared for the disasters, you're able to respond yourself, you don't have to tax out the system and that helps the community recover quicker. >> i certainly agree. because big weather events, you're right. we should be prepared. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> despite tomorrow's apocalypse doomsday preppers airs tuesday at 9:00 p.m. eastern in case you want to catch it. we'll be back. [ bells dinging ]
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adt. always there. shoul teachers be armed in the classroom? fueling a passionate conversation all across the country. just yesterday, the ohio attorney general's office unvailed a plan to allow teachers to undergo safety training and possibly letting teachers carry guns. ohio is now the tenth state to consider such a plan. of course, there are groups that think allowing teachers to carry weapons is a really bad idea. last hour, i talked to cinda, a former feature, long time former teacher and president of the illinois education association. she does not think teachers should be armed. but there are some who think arming teachers is the right thing to do. >> one of the teachers, one of them, a faculty member, janitor, had a gun, bam, he would've
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killed an eighth, nothing compared to what he was capable of doing. you have to allow us to protect ourselves. >> cnn contributor wrote an op-ed on cnn.com called teachers with guns is a crazy idea. hi. >> hey, carol, how are you? >> i'm good. i post this question on my facebook page and i got thousands and thousands of responses. people were pretty much split down the middle. they're not sure what would work. but they do want something to protect kids in schools from crazy people coming in with semiautomatic weapons. >> absolutely, and that's something, i think, starts with our conversation about gun access. to me, this moves the red line, if you will, right? like, i thought the red line was we're not going to allow violence to be a part of the education process. and now we've moved the red line because of outside forces to we want teachers to be directly
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engaged with violence, through not just training, but having them armed and ready for battle in the schools. that's counterintuitive to the way we want to approach education. i think it's asking too much of our teachers and principals to carry student loans, stay on top of the extra training in order to be good teachers and oh, by the way, on the weekends, make sure you can shoot. i'm not against having a conversation of having security in the school, but arming teachers and principals, i think, is too much. >> it's interesting because the national education association is going to do a press conference later today. they sent out a statement and said if you arm teachers, you're sending a message to kids, you know, that teachers are walking around with guns. and, you know, they're not so sure that children should see that because that's not going to make them feel safer, it's going to make them feel less safe. >> absolutely. i mean, i'm having a very
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difficult time finding too many educators, too many teachers who think this is a great idea. you know, as i wrote in the piece, you know, with the exception of mr. will bennett, reagan's education secretary as well as a superintendent that was in texas, which currently allows for concealed weapons in the school district, i've had a difficult time finding too many educators on the record saying we want guns. i think we need to start listening to these teachers in terms of finding solutions as opposed to saying we know best as people who happen to be working in government. >> l. zvz. granderson, thank yo for sharing your thoughts. your opinion piece can be found on cnn.com right now. >> thank you. >> all right. l.z., thanks so much. how should nancy lanza be remembered? your responses next. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true.
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nfl stars are reaching out to comfort the relatives of those who died at sandy hook elementary school. the tennessee titans running back chris johnson wrote the names of victims on his shoes before the monday night football game with the jets. johnson set a franchise record with a 94-yard touchdown run. the newspaper reports a friend of grace mcconnell's family contacted the titans. johnson then called mcdonnell's family and spoke to grace's 11-year-old brother jack. he says when i talked to jack, we mostly talked about the game. he told me he liked my run. i think his dad was a jets fan before but they are now new tennessee titans fans. it was a nice conversation. new york giants receiver victor cruz was the favorite player of jack pinto. he expressed hi chis condolence is in a saturday night phone
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call and wrote my hero jack pinto on his cleats for saturday's game. >> when you visit a family that's going through so much and facing so much, so much turmoil in their lives is, you know, and you meet their family and see what kind of things they're going through, it just helps you look at life through a different lens as i said. and it really changes your view of, you know, the way you used to look at things, changed your view a little bit. >> did you hug your kid a little bit more that night? >> yeah, every since i've been spending more time with her, cherishing the little moments the little times you get with her because it's, you know, you never know when that can be taken from you. >> victor, what was it like being there with the family? >> it was just an emotional time. i spent a little bit of time with them. we got to smile a little bit, which was good for them and it was -- it was a time where i just wanted to be a positive voice, a positive light in a time where it could be really negative. it was a good time. they're a great family, and
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they're really united right now at this time. and it was good to see. >> were other kids in the neighborhood there, as well? >> yeah, there were some kids, the local football team. the team came by and spent time with them and played a little madden with them, as well. so it was some good times, spent some time with those kids. it was good. >> what was the ride up there like for you? did you have any expectations as to how things were going to go? were you nervous? >> i had no expectations. it was -- i was a little nervous, i just didn't know how i was going to be received. you never know just when they're going through something like that, you never know how it's going to go down. so once i got there and saw the kids there with my jersey on, the family and, you know, the family was outside, and they were still pretty emotional crying and stuff like that. so i saw how affected they were by just my presence alone. so i got out, gave them the cleats and the gloves and they appreciated it and the older brother he was still pretty emotional, stuff like that, so i
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gave the cleats and stuff to him. and we, you know, i proceeded to sign stuff for the kids and go inside and spend quality time with them. >> what about little jack being buried in your jersey? >> that was -- that was different. i mean, you don't know whether to say thank you, you know, whether to say, you know, you appreciate it, it's just -- it leaves you kind of blank. but i'm definitely honored by it. i'm definitely humbled by it. and it's definitely, you know, unfortunate, but humbling experience for me. >> wow. what a great guy. giants coach tom coughlin spoke about cruz's visit, saying the fact he did that speaks volumes about what he has inside. back in newtown, a tiny piece of normal, that's how newtown high school principal described yesterday's girls' basketball game against masak high school. we got the pictures from the news times of danbury,
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connecticut. the first sport since friday's tragedy. the newtown girls won the game by 20 points. 26 balloons in green and white, sandy hook's colors were placed off court. more than $2,200 raised in memory of the victims. now your responses to our talkback question of the day, and it was a tough one. how should nancy lanza be remembered? this from sandra. nancy lanza is responsible for what happened at sandy hook. why would she have so many guns available to her son? she should've had them locked up. this from nick, a mom who got killed by her own son which is the most tragic way to die. as a caring and loving mother, a victim too, but most importantly as a mother who made a fatal mistake by letting a son of unsound mind get his hands on assault weapons. this from mary, it's tragic that anyone's death should go unmourned. please keep the conversation going, i know it's a difficult one. facebook.com/carolcnn. thank you for your comments over
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the last three days it's been unbelievable. and thank you for joining me today. "cnn newsroom" with ashleigh banfield continues after a quick break. ends soon. hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. just $12.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99.
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oh,this is jucier than i thought. we actully keep track of how many times this kid picked his nose? tongue's out, hair pulls, stink eyes, man we see eveything. oh, it's the old man. hold on, i gotta send something out. you can have two apps open at the same time? how'd you do that? it's the galaxy note 10.1 man, it just does it. how do you think they made it? magic. do more with the samsung galaxy note 10.1.